MOLLY ADKINS, researcher and performer of Japanese traditional folk song, has been conducting fieldwork in Japan since 1989. She holds a master's degree in musicology from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where she was a student of Gen'ichi Tsuge; and a bachelor's degree in voice from the University of Colorado. She is currently continuing fieldwork in Japan on the vocal techniques of traditional Japanese music, and is doing concerts combining Japanese and American traditional folk song.
She received the Japanese Ministry of Education Scholarship as a research student at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music from 1995-1997, and as a masters student from 1997-1999. She was the only masters student selected by the Society for Research in Asiatic Music to give a presentation of her thesis concerning the possibility of bi-musicality. She currently holds the position of Assistant Secretary for the Society for Research in Asiatic Music, and is also a member of the International Council of Traditional Music and the Society for Ethnomusicology.
As a singer, she has received several awards in folksong competitions with all Japanese contestants, including Grand Champion and Youth Division Champion of the Japan Folk Song Association, Folk Song and Dance Kita Kanto Koshin-etsu Area Competition in 1995; and Youth Division Champion of the Japan Folk Song Association, Folk Song and Dance Gunma Prefecture No. 2 Union Competition in 1994 and 1992. She has also received the Japanese folksong art name "Chikuhai".